An Unlikely Family
by mebeinme
Summary: This one-shot explores the relationship between Elijah/Hayley and Hayley/Klaus in light of the Season 2 finale. Despite their many quarrels among themselves, it is the newest addition to their family that brings the hope of redemption and reunion. DISCLAIMER: I own nothing.


Klaus stared lovingly into his daughter's eyes. Anyone not a Michaelson would never recognize this look upon the face of the King of the Quarter, but from the doorway Elijah beamed. "I'll give you a moment alone with her," he said.

With no response from his captivated brother, Elijah quietly closed the door behind him. For a man so capable of such evil, Elijah reveled in the display of love, of **humanity**. It had been far too long since he'd caught a glimpse of it. Instances had become fewer and far between. Sometimes, Elijah just wasn't enough anymore after a thousand years of pulling Klaus back from the edge he so desperately kept throwing himself over.

In this rare moment of pure joy, Elijah decided to keep walking past his room down the hallway to the living room where Hayley sat on the couch looking out at the glowing streets.

With Hayley's new vampire abilities and the playing field slightly leveled, Hayley had stopped jumping every time the original family appeared from seemingly nowhere. Her newly acquired vamp hearing tipped Hayley off to Elijah's arrival, but she still let him be the first to speak.

"Finally, a quiet night all around in the city," Elijah said, breaking the silence.

"I'm just happy to have one night without anyone trying to kill me or you or Hope or even Klaus. I know he has a thousand enemies still yet to come for us, but right now I'm just… happy."

"Speaking of my brother – you trust him alone with your daughter?"

Hayley let out a half laugh. "Trust is a strong word and not one I ever thought I'd apply to Klaus, but when it comes to Hope… yeah, I do."

Elijah's smile widened.

"I know that he'll put anyone at risk before he lets any harm come to her. I'm living proof of that."

Elijah faltered, thinking back to a few days prior when Klaus had finally managed to gain the upper hand on Devina just long enough for her to remove the spell damning Hayley to a reversed curse in which she was a wolf that turned human on the full moon. Although he wanted to believe this was him fixing a mistake, he knew it had been a strategic play for winning Dalia's good graces. It had worked and Hope returned to them, but Elijah hated Klaus for it all the same.

However, seeing him hold her in his arms, Elijah decided to leave him be for the night.

"He left you like that you know. For longer than necessary as punishment for trying to leave with Hope."

"I know," Hayley said slowly, "and I hate that he kept me from her. I hate that he thinks he owns me. And I worry about the kind of father he'll be to her every day."

"Then how can you still be smiling?" Elijah asked tentatively.

"Because no matter what, I know that she'll be safe in this world of wretched creatures and rotten agendas. Klaus is a force to be reckoned with, for better or worse."

"Is this what motherhood does to a person?" Elijah joked. "Makes them lose all sense of slef-preservation?"

"Would you not die for the child if push came to shove?" Hayley questioned.

"Of course I would. I simply mean –"

"I know," Hayley interjected. "I want her to be happy, but I need her to survive."

Before Elijah could respond, Hayley used her vampire speed to whirl off the couch and into his arms. Slightly taken aback by her show of affection with the father of her child in the next room, he said, "Hayley" in soft protest.

She pushed him down onto the couch and brought a hand to his face. He brought his hand to hers and lightly brushed it with his fingertips, sighing happily. Hayley ran her fingers through his hair and pulled him in as she leaned down and brought her lips to meet his, a kiss tender and loving.

As she leaned back, her eyes shined brightly and Elijah could feel his own excitement mirrored in them.

"Now, I'm going to go spend some time with my daughter."

"Ah, yes of course. I think I'll find Rebekah and see about a glass of bourbon. It feels like the perfect night for an easy drink."

* * *

Hayely softly opened the door to the nursery to reveal Klaus in the rocker with Hope drifting off to sleep in his arms.

"What do you know, you're not actually terrible at that," Hayley goaded.

"Given the chance, I plan to make a better father than either of mine ever were to me," Klaus replied matter-of-factly.

They both stayed quiet for a moment, just watching their daughter's eyes fall sleepily closed, only to open searching for her mother and fathers'.

"She really is beautiful," Hayley said tearing up a little. "Such a wondrous miracle to rise up from the disaster of a night between two damaged creatures."

"It wasn't all bad. I do seem to recall you were rather enjoying yourself at the time," Klaus replied.

A slight flush came across Hayley's face and Klaus chuckled. Hayley turned to pick up a few of Hope's toys off of the ground.

"Would you like to hold her? I should find my siblings and see what the bloody devil trouble they've gotten into in the twenty minutes of my absence." Klaus leaned out of the chair to offer up the swaddled babe.

"She looks pretty comfortable right where she is," Hayley said to him.

Klaus' face colored with surprise, but he settled back into the rocking chair happily.

"I should have moved on Devina sooner," Klaus said, his eyes locked on his sleeping child.

"I shouldn't have taken Hope away from you," Hayley replied instantly, a thought she'd been having since the moment she had done so.

"Really?" he drawled.

"Klaus, I'm used to being on my own. I didn't have parents, or siblings. There were no family discussions on how to handle things. When I wanted to do something, I do it. Now I've got more family than I know what to do with and **still** I feel like I'm the outsider at times. Most of the time. And like you, I knew Elijah's plan wouldn't work, so I got the hell out of dodge."

All of this came rushing out. Not that she felt she owed him anything, but Hayley felt she owed it to Hope to make peace with her father where she could.

"Much as I hate that you kept me from her," she continued, "I know I also did the same thing to you by leaving you daggered in that box. I care so deeply about Hope, more than I ever thought I could care for someone.

"I want her to grow up in a family, raised by an army of people who love her. You are vindictive, a socio-path, paranoid, and self-serving, but I know you will do everything in your power to protect her. We both would, even it=f it meant cutting out a portion of the family tree."

"So… let's call it a truce for now and leave this mess behind us," Klaus said, seeming to be all-too-ready to move on from the subject. He did what he felt had to be done in the best interest of his daughter, of the whole family. He wouldn't apologize for having the gall to do what the others could not, but he did feel the ever so smallest pang of guilt at purposely keeping Hope from her mother, even after the threat had been eliminated.

"Just like that," Hayley snapped her fingers.

"We have a common goal, you and I, which makes you a valuable asset. However, when you disobey me… I'm the most impartial, most rational. I will do what needs to be done to protect Hope."

"Which is the only reason I haven't left you in the dust" she snapped. Then she softened her tone, "I want her to know her dad, for you to dote on her and make her feel like the most special girl in the world; to teach her how to be a survivor."

"Like I said," Klaus almost whispered, "common goals."

He stood and gently placed the baby into the crib, leaning over her and stroking the few strands of hair atop her head.

Hayley tentatively placed a hand lightly on Klaus' shoulder. He grabbed it fiercely, holding it in place.

Though her first instinct was to recoil at his touch, this time she felt a semblance of connection between the two of them.

Like it or not, they were in this together from now until forever. They stayed just like that long into the night, the three of them united by the bonds of family.


End file.
